Door



Dec. 20, 1927.

N. R. GUILBERT. JR

DOOR

Filed Feb. 5, 1925 4 Shets-Sheet 1 Dec. 20, 1927.

N. R. GUILBERT,

noon

Filed Feb. 5, 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR NICHOLAS R Gum BERnJR.

Dec. 20, 1927.

1,653,170 N.-R. GUILBERT. JR

DOOR

Filed Feb. 5. 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 I j 1L- :1?

35 FIG. 8

INVENTOR.

NlCHOLAS R. GUILBEELJR.

. N. H. (EUELBERT, JR

DOOR

Filed Feb. 5, 1.925 4 Sheets -Sheet INVENTD R N \CHO L AS R. GUILBER'BJR Patented Dec. 20,1927.

UNITED STATES 1,653,170 PATENT OFFICE.

NICHOLAS It. GUIIQBERT, IR, 01'! MELROSE PARK, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOB TO ELEVATOR SAFETY-APIPLIANCE 00., A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

DOOR.

Application filed February My invention relates to doors and more especially to that class of sectional doors commonly employed in warehouses, frei ht plurality of relatively movable sections adapted to fully close the door opening when in closed position and which when being moved from closed to open position and vice versa requires a minimum of space and that so located as not to materially detract from the storage capacity of the building with which the door is associated. A further object of the invention is to provide a door of the character aforesaid which, when in open position, is disposed adjacent the under side of the lintel of the doorway in a substan-- tially horizontal position so as to leave the door opening entirely clear for its entire width and for substantially its entire height and consequently presenting no obstruction to the movement of goods, trucks or the like through the doorway.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a doorso constructed and operative as to permit the piling or storage of goods and the like adjacent the inner side of the door when in closed position for a considerable heightabove the floor without interfer ing with,the opening and closing of the door, thus enhancing the storage capacity of the building by permitting the entire area of its floor to be used for storage purposes.

My invention further contemplates the provision of a sectional door and means for opening and closing the same which are of relatively simple construction, not liable to get out of order'or to jam under conditions of use and which may be manufactured and installed at a relatively low cost, as well as the general improvement and simplification of doors and their attendant operatingmechanism of the class to which my invention relates.

In addition to the foregoing objects my invention further includes other objects and novel features of deslgn, construction and arrangement hereinafter more particularly specified or which will be apparent from the accompanying drawings illustrating certain embodiments of the invention.

In the said drawings, which are of more 5, 1925. Serial I'm 6,941.

or less diagrammatic nature, Fig. 1 is a rear elevation of one form of door constructed in accordance with my invention and Fig. 2 is a top plan view thereof, a portion of the door frame being shown in horizontal section; Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view, partially in section and partially in elevation, illustrating a' detail of the device and Fig. 4 a top plan view thereof partially in horizontal section. -Fig. 5 is a section on line 55 in Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows and showin the door in partially opened position an ,Fig. 6 a similar view showing the door in fully opened position, the door proper being shown in end elevation for the sake of clearness". Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 1 but showing a somewhat modified form of the invention and Fig. 8 is a top plan view thereof corresponding to Fig. 2. In Figs. 9 to 11 inclusive I have shown a still furthermodified form of the invention, Fig. 9 being a fragmentary view of the door in rear elevation, Fig. 10 a section on line 1010 in Fig. 9 looking in the direction of the RII'OWSuflIld showing the door inv fully open position; and

Fig. 11 a fragmentary detail view in end elevation'of a portion of the operating mechanism and also showing a part of the door frame in vertical section. The same symbols areuse'd to designate the same parts in the several figures.

Referring now more particularly to the form of the invention shown in Figs. 1 to 7 inclusive, the same comprises a door, generally designated asD, having an upper sectionl and a lower section 2 hingedly connected for relative movement by hinges 33 so designed as to permit the two sections to foldtogether along a horizontal axis with their rear or inner facesadjacent and in substantially parallel relation. Disposed to extend vertically adjacent each of the jambs or sides of the doorway formed in and framedor defined by the wall W of the building is a preferably metallic guide 4, best shown in Fig. 4, conveniently of channel section and provided with a centrally disposed vertically extending rib 4:. Eac guide is securely fastened to the rear face of the adjacent door jamb with its open side extending toward the doorway and the door which is of suflicient width to almost fill the s ace between the guides is disposed in aignment or substantial alignment therei with so that when in closed position the door 1 will lie in a plane somewhat in the rear of the plane of the inner face of the frame of the doorway.

Arranged for cooperation with the upper section of the door. and with each guide is a slide of suitabledesign, one form of which, best shown in Figs. 3 and 4, comprises lltl a air of spaced fingers 5 operative to receive the rib 4 between them as well as a suitable ear 6 for the attachment of one of the lifting chains as hereinafter more particularly described; each slide is suitably pivotally connectedvwith the door section, conveniently by means of an L-shaped plate 7 which is fitted over the ed e of the door and carries a horizontally isposed pivot stud 8 having a head countersunk in-a depression 9 in the edge of the door and a trunnion rojecting laterally outward and received in a cylindrical hole of suitable diam.-

eter formed in the adjacent portion of the which may be similar in design to slides 5,

adapted to engage the vertically extending rib 4 in the guides 4, and I prefer to arrange the pivotal connection between this section of the door and its slides as near to its lower edge as may be convenient but in any case, in order that when the door is in fully open position the two sections thereof may lie in substantially parallel relation as hereinafter more fully described, it is requsite that the distance between the pivotal center of theqhinges 3-and the axis of the pivots 8 or other p votal connection between the upper section of the door and its slides shall be substantially the same as the distance between the said pivotal center and the axis of the pivots between the lower section of the door and its slides.

In the embodiment of the invention now being described suitable means are provided for constraining the upper extremity of the door section 1 to move in a given path during the opening and closing of the door, a convenient form thereof comprising a pair of tracks or rails 12 respectively disposed adjacent the sides of the door and supportedin any suitable way such, for example, as by hangers 13 depending from the ceiling or roof of the building. These rails may be arranged to extend rearwardly from the inner face of the building wall for a distance slightly greater than the distance between the upper door section pivots and the.

upper edge of the door and a suitable slide 14: is'arranged on each side of the door section adjacent its upper in such manner as to engage the adjacent track and slide thereon as the door is opened and' jclosed.

' It is requisite therefore that these slides be i pivotally connected to the door section so as to be capable of rotation about a' horizontal axis with respect thereto/when the door is being moved and such connection may be conveniently effected through the medium of an L-shaped plate 15 substantially corresponding to plate 7 already described and having a cylindrical aperture for the reception of a pivot stud 16 carried by the slide, While the tracks or rails as well as the slides may be offany suitable form, the former may conveniently be of L-shaped cross section and disposed so that their flanges will lie respectively in horizontal and vertical planes, and the slides, under such conditions, substantially j aw-shaped so as to engage over a portion of the adjacent horizontal flange, but any other desired arrangement may be employed with equal facility. Furthermore, in order that the door when fully open may assume a substantially horizontal position as close to the top of the door opening as possible, it is desirable to slightly downwardly incline the tracks when, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6, their forward ends are disposed at a point above that in which the pivots of the upper section of the door come to rest when the door is. fully opened for it will be obvious that to permit the door, when so opened, to assume the said position it is requisite that the ivots of the slides 14 and 5 shall be in a su stantially horizontal plane a condition which may be readily brought about by suitable inclination of the tracks as hitherto stated.

A sectional door constructed and supported substantially as hitherto described is capable of operation in accordance with my invention by various'forms of mechanism such, for example, as that shown in Figs. 1 to 7 inclusive and now 'to be described, said mechanism being so designed and arranged as to substantially counterbalance the weight of the door and to simultaneously exert on both sections thereof a vertical lift suflicient to move them simultaneously from substantially closed to fully open position. For accomplishing this result-the said means may comprise a suitable counterweight 2O conveniently disposed at one side of and adjacent the upper part of the door when the latter is closed and connected, through the medium of a chain or cable 21, with the slide 5 carried by the upper section of the door on the opposite side thereof from that on. which the counterweight is located, the chain being carried up from the slide through the adjacent guide, thence over one of a pair of independently rotatable, coaxially supported sheaves 22 secured to the wall above the door, thence horizontally to the opposite side of the door over one of paplurality of independently rotatable coaxly supported sheaves 23 secured to the wall and thence to a point of connection 24 with the counterweight. In a similar manner the counterweight is connected with the slide 5 on the adjacent edge of the upper door section by a chain 25 passing upward through the other guide and over another of the sheaves 23 and thence to the counterweight at 24.

For supplying the requisite lifting force to open the door the lower section thereof may be suitabl connected to an operating winch X or he like, conveniently represented in Fig. 1, and located at any convenient point, said connection being effected by a pair of chains or cables 26 and '27 the former of which extends from the ear 6' or other convenient point of attachment on the slide 10 on the opposite side of the door from the counterweight upwardly in the adjacent guide 4 and over another of the sheaves 22, thence horizontally and over another of the sheaves 23 and thence vertically downwardly, conveniently through a suitable passage 28 formed in the counterweight, to a ring or shackle 29 situated below the weight; the other chain 27 is carried upward from the other slide 10, thence over another of the sheaves 23 and down through the same passage in the counterweight to the ringi-or shackle 29. From this ring a single operating cable 30 may be extended to the winch so that a downward pull thereon is effective to move the shackle in a similar direction and thus impart a simultaneous pull upon both lifting chains. It will of course be understood that while the winch or similar mechanism is a convenient one for supplying the requisite lifting force any other means suitable for that purpose may be employed or, under certain conditions, the use of mechanical means for this pur pose may be entirely dispensed with and the requisite force exerted manually on the free ends of the lifting chains 26 and 27.

To open the door it isfirst requisite to break the joint formed by the hinges 3 so as to move the sections of the door from the vertical plane and bring them to a slightly relatively inclined position, a result which may be accomplished either manually by an outward push on the rear face of the door in the vicinity of the bin es or by any suitable mechanical means gnot shown). The door sections having been thus caused to assume a slightly angular relation with respect to each other, suificient power is exerted on the free ends of the lifting chains 26 and 27 either manually or by means of the winch X to cause the slides 5 and 10 to move upwardly in the guides 4, the upper part of the lower door section and the lower 'sion on the free ends of the lifting chains to hold the door open; thus, upon release of this tension'the door, under ordinary conditions, is operative to automatically return to closed position through the action of gravity. It will be noted that during the opening of the door an upward lifting force is exerted simultaneously on both sections thereof, the pull of the counterweight being delivered directly to the upper section of the door through the slides 5 and the manual or mechanical lifting force being delivered directly to the lower section through the slides.

10, thus moving both sections simultaneously from their initial or closed to their final or open position in which they are supported closely adjacent the top of the doorway and in a position entirely out of the way of loaded trucks or the like passing therethrough. It will moreover be observed that the only portion of the door whichextends into the interior of thebuilding at any time, either during or when the door is at rest in fully open position, is that part of the upper section above the pivots 8, thus enablin goods to be piled close to the inner face 0 the closed door at least as high as the said pivots without interfering with its opening or closing, a feature of material advantage in enhancing the capacity of the warehouse or other building with which the door is associated.

In the form of invention just described but a single counterweight is utilized and the operating mechanism of the door so arranged that the force requisite for opening it may be exerted at a single point conveniently at one side of the door through the medium of a winch or other equivalent means. Under certain conditions, however, and particularly in installations where the doors are not large or particularly heavy it may be desirable to dispense with the use of mechanical power and operate the door solely by a manual force applied directly to the door itself instead of a mechanical or manual force applied to the lifting chains. Under such conditions it may be desirable to employ a pairof counterweights 35, 36 disposed on opposite sides of the door as shown in Figs. 7 and 8 which may be respectively directly connected with the slides 5 by the opening and closing movements means of chains or cables 37 and 38 passing over sheaves 39 and 40 respectively supported above and adjacent the opposite edges of the door. lVhen so arranged the combined weight of the counterweights is preferably'such as to almost 'overbalance the weight of the door so that the operator by first pushing outwardly on the door in the vicinity of the hinges 3 so as to break the joint between the sections can thereafter by further outward and upward pressure on the lower part of the upper section or an upward pull on the lower part of the lower section cause both sections'to move upwardly and toward each other until they reach a substantially horizontal position adjacent the top of the doorway, the upper edge of the upper section of the door moving along the tracks 12 during this opening movement through the coaction of the slides 14 with the tracks as hitherto described. Ordinarily the weight of the parts in this form of the invention will be so designed that the door will remain in open position automatically through the friction between the various relatively movable parts though capable of being readily returned to closed position by a downward pull sufficient to overcome such friction. Of course once the door. is fully closed the pull exerted thereon by the counterweights is a vertical one and it can-- not operate to open the door until the joint,

between the sections is broken in some suitable manner as already described, but as tain conditions it may be desirable to avoid the employment of the tracks or equivalent means for guiding the upper edge of the door during the major part of its movement and I shall therefore now proceed to de scribe a form of the invention illustrated in Figs. 9 to 11 inclusive in which no means for guiding the upper edge of the door during the major portion of its travel are employed and which is intended, similarly to the form of the invention shown in Figs. 1 to 6, to be actuated by power supplied at a single point adjacent the door either mechanically y a winch X or manually.

In this form of the invention the slides 5 of the upper section 1 are respectively connected by chains or cables and 51 with a single counterweight 52 conveniently disposed at one side of the door, the chain 50 being carried upwardly from the counterweight over one of a plurality of independ ently rotatable, coaxially supported sheaves 53, thence horizontally above the door and over one of a pair of coaxialiy supported,

independently rotatable sheaves '54 and thence. downwardly through the adjacent guide 4 to a point of connection with the adjacent slide 5 while the other chain 51 is carried upwardly from the weight 52 over another of the sheaves 53 and thence downwardly through "the adjacent guide to the other slide 5 so that the pull of the counterweight is exerted directly upon both sides of the upper door section. The slides 10 in this case, however, are not directly connected with the Winch through the medium of the lifting chains as in the form of the invenconveniently an eye-bolt 60 or the like supported from the wall WV, while the lower end of the counterweight is connected by a chain or cable 61 with the winch X if employed, so that through the medium thereof a downward pull can be imparted to the weight.

In this form of the invention the door is opened, after the joint between the-sections has been broken as already described, by imparting a sufiicient downward pull on the counterweight to cause the slides 5 and 10 to travel upwardly along the guides, the upper edge of the lower section and the lower edge of the upper section swinging outwardly and the upper edge of the latter traveling rearwardly during the opening movement, but as, owing to the manner of connection of the lifting chains, the slides 10 are caused to move along the guides at twice the speed of the slides 5, it is requisite, to enable the door to assume ahorizontal position when opened with its sections in substantial parallelism, that the distance between the center of the hinges 3 and the pivots of the slides 5 and 10 shall be the same and shall approximate substantially.

one-fourth of the total height of the door.

It is furthermore desirable inorder to afford a support for the upper edge of the door when opened and to insure its assuming a substantially horizontal position, to provide means for receiving and guiding said upper edge as the door is approachingthe end of its opening movement, such means conveniently comprising a support 64 hung from the ceiling by hangers 66 or otherwise positioned and having its forward edge 64' forwardly and downwardly inclined, so that as the door is finishing its opening movement its said upper edge will engage the inclined surface 64-. and slide upwardly thereon as the door finally comes to rest with its upper edge upon the horizontal surface of the support. V

It is thought that the mode of operation of this particular form of the invention will be apparent without extended description, the Weighting and proportioning of the parts beingconveniently such that a slight tension on the cable 61 is required to hold the door open so that the release of said tension is all that is necessary to permit the door to automatically close under the action of gravity.

While have herein described with considerable particularity certain forms of my invention respectivelyadapted' to meetthe requirements of different conditions of installation, I do not thereby desire or intend to specifically limit myself thereto or to any precise details of construction or arrangement of the details of the device or to the particular form and arrangement of operating means to which I have referred,as the same may be modified in numerous ways to better adapt the invention to the particular purposes and operative conditions under which it is to be employed or for other reasons without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent of the United States 1. The combination with a door frame defining a doorway, of a door for closing said doorway and comprlsing a pair of sections hinged together on a horizontal axis, guides supported adjacent the sides of the doorway, slides cooperative with said guides and respectively pivotally connected to said section, means for causing the upper edge of the door to follow a. substantially horizontal path during the opening and closing of the door, and means for exerting an u ward pull on said slides whereby said sli es may be caused to move upwardl in said guides to carry said door sections mm a substantially vertical to a substantially horizontal position adjacent the top of the doorway, extending partially therethrough and disposed one above the other in substantially parallel relation.

2. The combination with a door frai-nedefining a doorway, of a door compiising a pair of sections hinged together on a hori zontal axis and adapted when vertically extended to close said doorway, vertical guides extending adjacent the sides of the doorway, means for effecting pivotal connection be tween each of said sections and said guides, means for causing the upper edge of the door to follow a substantially i hoirizontal path during the opening and closing of the door, and means for simultaneously exertclose the doorway, a verticall ing a lifting force on said sections whereby said sections, through coaction of said connecting means and said guides and said door and said second means, are simultaneously caused to swing outwardly through thedoor and move from a substantially vertical to a substantially horizontal tially extend therethrough and rest in substantial parallelism one above the other.

3. Thecombination'with a door frame defining a doorway, of a door comprising a pair of sections hinged together andrelatively movable about a horizontal axis, a ide extending adjacent each side of the oorway, a pivotal connection between each of said sections and each of said guides, said connections being disposed equidistantly from the adjacentedges of the sections, and means for simultaneously exerting a lifting force on both of said sections.

4. The combination with a door frame defining a doorway, of a door comprising hing-. ecly connected upperand lower sections, the latter being of less vertical height than the former, adapted whenextended-in a vertical plane to close said doorway, a guide disposed ad'acent each side of the doorway, a pair of orizontally ali ned slides respectively cooperative with t e guides and pivotally connected with the u per section, a pair of horizontally aligne slides respectively cooperativewith said guides and pivotally connected vwith the lower section, means for simultaneously exerting a lifting force on all of said slides and means for.

osition while being raised to the top of sa d doorway to par- 5. The combination with a door frame 'de- I fining a doorway, of a door comprising hingedly connected .upper and lower sections adapted when extended in a single plane to extending guide adjacent each side of t e doorway,

means pivotally supporting each section for rotation about an independent horizontal axis, said means being slidably cooperative with said guides, means for simultaneously exerting a lifting force on all of said connecting means to cause said means to move longitudinally of said guides, and means for constraining the upper edge of the upper section to move in a given path during a portion of the movement of said supporting means.

6. The combination with a door frame defining a doorway, of a door adapted to close the doorway when in vertical position tending guide disposed adjacent each side of.

the doorway, a pair of slides cooperative with each guide disposed one above the other with respect thereto, the upper slides of each pair being vpivotally connected with the'upper door section in horizontal alignment with each other and the lower slide of each pair being similarly connected with the lower section, means adapted to constrain the upper edge of the upper section to move in a given pathduring a part of the opening movement of the door; and means for simultaneouslyapplying a lifting force to each of said slides to cause said slides to move upwardly, along the guides whereby the sections of the door are caused to swing about their, respective pivotal connections with the slides and pass from a substan tially vertical position adjacent but out of the plane of the doorway to a substantially horizontal position adjacent the top of the doorway and extending therethrough.

7. The combination with a door frame defining a doorway, of a sectional door comprising two sections of different vertical,

eights hingedly connected together and adapted when extended in a vertical plane to close the. doorway, a vertically extending 'guideadjacent each side of the doorway, a.

pair of slides respectively cooperative with the guides and pivotally connected in horizontal ali nment to opposite sides of the lower section, another pair of guides similarly connected to the upper section, said pairs of guides being respectively equidistant from the axis about which the sections are relatively movable, meansfor exerting a vertical lifting force simultaneously on all of said slides whereb said slides may be caused to move upwar ly in said guides and approach each other and said sections moved relatively to each other about their point of connection and turned froma substantially vertical position to a substantially vertically rear of andiclosing said doorway l the top of the'doorwa and means operative to cause the upper e ge of the upper door section to move in a straight substantially horizontally disposed line during the relative movement of said sections.

8. In combination with a door frame .defining a doorway, door comprising sec tions hinged together, means for applying a lifting force to both section's simultaneously but separately and means for causing said sections under theinfluence of said force to simuletneously swing from a substantially vertical to a substantially horizontal position.

9. In combination with a door frame defining a doorway, a door comprising two sections of unequal height hinged to ether for relative movement on a horizonta axis, means for simultaneously yet separately applying a lifting force to both of said sections andineansfor causing said sections, under the influence of said force, to swing from a substantially vertical position in the to a substantially horizontal position a acent the top of the doorway and extending therethrough. I

10. In combination with a, door frame defining a doorway, a two part sectional door, the sections thereof being hinged together for relative movement, means remote from the connection between the sections for guiding each section with respect to the door frame, means for exerting a lifting force on both sections simultaneously to cause said sections to move upwardly with respect to the frame while turning about said hinge connection from a substantially vertical to a substantiall horizontal position with said sections fol ed one againstthe other in substantial parallelism and means operative to cause the upper edge oft-he upper door section to move in a straight substantially horizontally disposed line during the movement of said sections.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 3rd day of February, 1925.

NICHOLAS R. GUILBERT, JR. 

